Door County’s summer performing arts season is looming before us. Some lineups and artists have been announced and others are soon to be made known.

In the span of 10 days in June, Door Community Auditorium will open its season with a bang, Northern Sky will present the world premieres of two new musicals and Peninsula Players will premiere a new play.

During that time, the Door Kinetic Arts Festival will be presenting readings of a new play, a new screenplay, a new dance piece and new short films.

Meanwhile, Midsummer’s Music Festival will open at Birch Creek Music Performance Center, and Birch Creek will open its own season soon after.

Without getting into a whole season preview, let’s just say there’s a lot to look forward to and a lot of work going on right now to make it all happen. So until that explosion ignites, there’s still a lot of exciting work to try to take in. Here’s some of what’s on my list.

Doug Mancheski (Northern Sky Theater, Third Avenue Playhouse) fans and Spalding Gray fans can get together to catch Doug’s solo performance in Spalding’s play, “Gray’s Anatomy” at TAP through the end of the month.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will present Lauren Gunderson’s “Silent Sky” April 25-28 at the Weidner Center on the campus. I wrote about this play two and a half years ago when I saw it at Forward Theater in Madison. Gunderson is one of the most-produced playwrights in the country, and the script is excellent. There’s some fine young talent in the play, including Laker Thrasher, who has done several play readings for TAP.

I’m also keen to get down to Milwaukee to see an all-star cast in Renaissance Theatreworks’ production of Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls,” directed by artistic director Suzan Fete. The cast features Cassandra Bissell (Peninsula Players), Elyse Edelman (Door Shakespeare), Grace DeWolff (Players), Rachael Zientek (Northern Sky) and Milwaukee theater mainstays Mary MacDonald Kerr and Jenny Wanasek. I’ve not seen this play in more than 30 years, and I can’t wait to see this cast blow me away. I have until April 29.

There’s also a few film festivals I need to check out, including the Wild & Scenic Film Festival at Green Bay’s "Backstage at the Meyer" April 18, and Lawrence University’s ACM Film Conference and Festival in Appleton, featuring student work from colleges around the Midwest, April 20-22.

Milwaukee Repertory Theatre just opened Thornton Wilder’s classic “Our Town,” (produced at TAP a few years ago with local high school students). The play is directed by Brent Hazelton (Door Kinetic) and features Di’Monte Henning (Door Kinetic), James Pickering (Door Shakespeare) and Carrie Hitchcock and Jonathan Wainwright (both TAP, Door Shakespeare). The design team includes Rachel Laritz (costumes) and Barry Funderburg (sound), both from Pen Players. The play runs through May 13.

And, of course, I can’t miss “Urinetown: The Musical” at Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee from May 18 to June 10. Directed by artistic director Ray Jivoff, this Tony Award-winning Broadway classic could give you your first peek at new Door Shakespeare artistic director Michael Stebbins in a couple of roles before moving up here. Rachael Zientek goes straight from “Top Girls” to “Urinetown” to a season at Northern Sky. Steve Koehler (Northern Sky, Players) and Rhonda Rae Busch (Northern Sky) are also cast, and they’re all costumed by Kärin Kopischke (Players, TAP, Door Shakes). I guess I really can’t miss that one.

Alan Kopischke is a university lecturer, actor and arts consultant working with theaters, universities and other cultural organizations around the state. He writes a column on arts experiences outside Door County in which traveling residents might have an interest. Contact Alan at alan.kopischke@gmail.com with “Arts Traveler” in the subject line with suggestions or questions for future columns.